Hearts: Chose
by Hiasobi
Summary: A childish goddess he raised and cultivated and protected, along with Aerith and Cid. His, as long as he believed in a Garden so beautifully Radiant it had given her birth, nurtured Aerith, and cultivated him. Leon's story.


**Hearts** is my VincentYuffieCloud KH/FFVII fiction which is posted in the FFVII category, because it is FFVII angle dominant. Someone asked for Leon's side of the story and I'm posting it here because this is KH angle dominant. This is an off-shot set in the same universe as my other story but you don't need to read it to understand this. But please feel free to hop over to the FFVII category or my profile to read (and review) the other fiction .

I also give shout-outs to the CLOUFFOLUTION which is happening. I am a CloudYuffie fan as well, but I've only posted in the FFVII category so far. **Phone Calls **and **Hearts **are both VincentYuffieCloud, WIP, but I hope you would enjoy them. Reviews go here, but if you would like a discussion, talk of general plot line, or to speak to me, the link to my LJ is on my profile.

So someone asked for Leon's side of the story, but I never played nor was ever engrossed into FFVIII, so this is going to be more awkward than the others, as I am clueless to how much he is OOC and what events really transpired in the game. But I hope this is passible.

And yes, 'chose' is past-tense for a purpose.

* * *

**Title: **Hearts: Chose**  
Summary: **Kingdom Hearts/FFVIII/FFVII crossover. An off-shot set in my **Hearts** Universe. In the back of his mind he knows there was another life he used to lead. Leon's story. He has discarded Squall twice. He lived for his girls now.

* * *

In the back of Leon's mind he knows that when he initially arrived at Traverse Town there had been a time interval of great confusion. It still lingers in distant memories, the visions of another life. But that had been years ago, he did not remember it clearly anymore and living life in the present was so much more important. 

He hadn't had time to be distracted between taking care of Yuffie, watching out for Aerith, battling the Heartless, journeying with Sora, and protecting Traverse Town. Leon had responsibilities and he needed to be in top shape in body and mind to be able to perform to the best of his abilities.

There are things he wants to protect: Aerith's smile, Yuffie's smile.

Long ago he had trained in an academy in Radiant Garden, the place where he obtained his shooting skill, martial arts, and his gun. Yet even with what he had been taught, when the Heartless attacked he hadn't been strong enough to save them – his schoolmates, his friends.

In the horrifying battle as the Heartless escaped from the castle and ravaged Radiant Garden, all the children and adults scattered and Squall, in his prideful ignorance, thought he could save them. But he couldn't.

Many had managed to jump into Gummi ships but many more had fallen to the Heartless. When he had finally got into that last ship with a local mechanic, a nice girl he saw around town selling flowers, and one of the many kids he occasionally babysat for money, it was too late.

Hope was gone.

Radiant Garden was gone.

The hero always saves the day, rescues the damsel, emerges victorious, but all Squall had were the images of his friends and family falling, consumed by dark creatures, and the place where light and laughter used to be was over taken by Shadows and malice. Even though so many had run for the escape ships, they had met up with none in Traverse Town. Not Squall's school mates. Not Aerith's family. Not Yuffie's relatives. Not Cid's acquaintances.

Squall hadn't been strong enough to save anybody.

Since then he had sworn to become stronger, to train and gather more power. He lost Radiant Garden to Hollow Bastion but he had Aerith and Yuffie and Cid. Cid went off to look for a job as soon as they settled, to be able to earn munny to support them. Cid found a job quickly but he was morose, falling into melancholy. He set the children up with a munny flow but he couldn't stand to be in their company, not when he was missing someone so badly it was almost consuming him when he wasn't working. Cid lived above the shop he started and Squall rented a place with Aerith and Yuffie. Cid could support them financially but their emotional health fell to themselves, and Yuffie was the first to gain back her smile.

Maybe it was childhood ignorance and bliss, but she was able to immerse herself in the new surrounding, finding new mysteries and joy in every corner. Only every once in a while would she turn to Aerith or Squall and ask where her mother or father was. Aerith would hug her tight and promise she would see them again someday; Squall would get up and leave the room.

Initially Squall hadn't done anything but rage and despair until a crying Aerith slapped him. They still needed him, he was the eldest of the three, he should set an example – how was Aerith supposed to take care of Yuffie all on her own, and deal with her grief? Was this the limit of his strength - to surrender without even trying? Then he was the weakest one of them all, and Yuffie the strongest. The tears running down Aerith's face and the solemn look on Yuffie's face finally moved him. Aerith was beautiful even as she cried, but so tragic, and that mature look had no right to be so familiar on Yuffie's face. Neither of the two girls should look so old with the shadows in their eyes.

Finally Squall shook himself out of his depression and took up living. He grocery shopped with Aerith, trained with Yuffie, and routinely all three children would drop by Cid's with prepared meals and eat together.

Cid offered him understanding if he ever wanted to rage at the world.

Aerith offered him support if he ever felt he couldn't shoulder the weight alone.

Yuffie offered him a purpose. She was young, impressionable, and they were all that she had left. They were all that each other had left. The four of them were family now.

And the Squall who hadn't appreciated what he had when he had it back in Radiant Garden, the Squall who had slashed at the Heartless but couldn't hurt them, the Squall who had been the weakest out of the four when they arrived, the Squall who had not been strong enough – he cast him aside.

He didn't need someone who couldn't live past adversities. The girls didn't need a man weak enough to crumble in the first hurdle. They needed someone to protect them, and he needed to become that man.

He cast away the name of Squall and became Leon. He gave up the despairing past of Hollow Bastion that had weighed him down.

He lived for his girls now.

**. : -: . **

In the back of his mind he knows there was another life he used to lead. That he didn't quite meet Aerith, Cid, or Yuffie in Radiant Garden. That he had met Aerith and Cid in Traverse only after he arrived and he later found Yuffie in a forest.

But that life seemed so far away.

In that life he had been in a Garden but it hadn't been Radiant. It had been Balamb. And although both times he trained in an Academy; he was colder in Balamb, and more anti-social. It was hard for him to socialize and to speak with people. He had very few select friends.

And then there had been a tragedy.

One of his friends, maybe his only true friend at that time, left and never came back. His friend had always come and left, came and left; they argued and parted, provoked each other and walked away, but there was always another encounter. Another meeting. They drew circles and circles around each other but then one day the circle broke.

The feel of his weapon is familiar but in Balamb there was also something that felt ice cold yet welcome. It would sit at the back of his head, crystallize around him, and he remembered it was something to be proud of. But it also ate at his memories and identity, that was the price to be paid.

He remembers smiling faces, pouting lips, frowning expressions, annoyed words, and a grin that was almost like Yuffie's.

But the grinning face was not the central face in his mind. Instead it was a softly smiling visage with long brown hair. He knows her name _(Rinoa)_, he dreamed her. She reminded him of Aerith in some aspects.

He knows there was a grand battle and a war in which they emerged victorious. There was a song and dance and the sight of the softly smiling face coming close to his own.

Though he gained many new ones, the old friend never returned. Instead whenever he thought of him there was pain and anger, despair and bitterness. Rage was there too, but muted, like a worn down boot which fit but was tearing at the seams; like a scratched up pendent that meant everything but was tarnished beyond repair.

That life was like a fairytale. He was the Knight, and the softly smiling face was his princess. He was strong, respected, had rescued the damsel and saved the world. Everyone there called him Squall, the name in which he only let a select few call him.

Later there is a parallel. After the victory, when the Garden is alive again with students and teachers, he sits behind a wide ornate desk and signs paperwork everyday for the operations of the institution. A few years down the road he sees the same scenes of different people falling, the same nightmares of losing loved ones, the same delusion that he thought he had been strong enough when he wasn't.

The same anguish and despair, of arriving to Traverse Town a broken man, washed out and tired. Aerith finds him, smiling politely and takes him with her; into the house she has rented and heals him with Magic. He meets a disgruntled Cid who alternatively chewed on straw and smoked up a chimney.

All his friends were gone. His loved ones fallen. And he was alone again.

He lashed out every time he heard his name, only hearing the trailing voices of _(Squall, help me!)_ cries he could not forget, the ones _(they got me Squall)_ he could not save, and the important people _(so sorry Squall, I can't make it to the end with you_) he lost.

But Aerith was gentle and coaxing, allowing him time to grieve and wallow in his misery, but never so much that he wouldn't take care of the most basic necessities. Cid swore and provoked, he made Squall rage at the world, kept him from locking himself in a room forever even if only to yell at Cid's insensitivity. They called him by his last name_ (stop being a coward Leon-hart)_, because it was the only one he would respond to _(would you like dinner Squall? Squall?...Le...on?)_

One day out of the infinite others as he wandered hunting the Heartless, he found her, sprawled on her side and battered, bleeding too much for her own good, shredded clothes and dark, dark hair against too pale skin. He bandaged her up, watched over her as she healed and when she wakes her eyes are luminous and gray.

She was confused, weary, proud, but dependent on him. She reminded him of himself, lost and having lost. He taught her of the Worlds, munny, and the customs of the new place she has found herself in.

She was curious, quirky, and unlike the others she never allowed him to pity himself for too long. She would poke, prod, stepped over – no deliberately set off emotional landmines. She laughed in his face at his bluster and teased him over his brooding. She was loud, energetic, aggravating, and _never shut up_. She made him shout, roar, tear at his hair, glare, smirk, laugh outright at her idiocy, and _live_ instead of survive.

She made him _feel_ again.

He took her into town when she has finally adjusted and introduced her to Aerith. Soon she was skipping, hopping, bellowing at them inside the house. She was bright and cheerful and Aerith laughed full of mirth, a twinkling sound Squall had never heard before. Cid grunted and came over for tea more often.

She was light and brilliance, gaiety and joy. She followed him around, turned Aerith's kitchen into a disaster zone, yelled herself hoarse against Cid.

Running around town in the night with him, she punched and kicked, slashed and sliced at the Heartless next to him. She was fierce and determined and only listened to him when she was outnumbered. Stubborn and headstrong, she only pulled back when she was obviously overpowered, stepping to the protected area, hiding behind his broad back.

Body stretching and lactic acid burning at his muscles, he was half maddened and half amused at her cheering. Slashing with his Gunblade she shouted his name, ducking and punching at the Nightmare she whistled her appreciation at the view of his calves; pulling the torn, dirty shirt to mop up his sweat, she stared fixated at the flexing abs.

He smirked at her obvious infatuation, rolled his eyes are her unsubtle attempts to obtain a date, laughed inwardly at her insistence, despite her fiery red face, that she had simply been spacing out – coincidentally in his direction.

Aerith smiled and welcomed them home with a warm meal, Cid muttered and shoved potions into their pockets, Merlin pinched his lips amused at their arguments as he applied healing magic, and the townspeople waved and shouted their greetings to the defenders.

Soon all other memories except Traverse Town faded. Radiant Garden became Hollow Bastion, Shadows became Nightmares, and the King disappeared. He met Sora and Goofy and they went off to save the Worlds. And Yuffie, Yuffie was always there, fluttering around him, following everywhere, laughing at his moods, spinning to cover and cower behind his back. Always_ there_, allowing him to protect her, emerging alive from every conflict, standing by his side as they triumphed over evil. Laughing, prodding, provoking; shining gray eyes and black hair flying in the breeze.

Standing with him at the end of the World, at the start of new ones; through defeat and victories, death and punishment, anger and recklessness; like his very own goddess.

A childish goddess he raised and cultivated and protected, along with Aerith and Cid. His, as long as he believed in a Garden so beautifully Radiant it had given her birth, nurtured Aerith, and cultivated him. Where the three of them were young, carefree, and grew up together.

**. : -: .**

He has discarded Squall twice.

Bastion-Squall who had lived arrogantly in a privileged life, being unable to see and protect something so cherished until it was gone, and then broken into despair. Who had never understood how important Radiant-Squall was, how happy he had been.

The second was Balamb-Squall, cold and broken before his time, viewing the world with jaded eyes, teaching the children how to fight and kill instead of living. Rarely smiled and people greeted respectfully but not amiably.

Balamb-Squall who was anti-social and burdened with responsibilities, looking down at softly glowing eyes filled with magic he helped save, a Headmaster of a Garden which dealt in death and violence, junctioned with ice, given the title Commander and all it entailed; hailed as a hero but uncomfortable with the recognition. He had dreamed a girl, an almost perfect girl, survived trials and tribulations, fought his used-to-be-best-friend, found his father, rescued the girl, saved the world, and had been rewarded at the end.

But that life was distant, like a fairytale book. Someone else's story he read and memorized and seen into the depths of, but it was not him.

Because that life never saw the Heartless destroy world after world, never lost everything good and beautiful and had to start again from nothing. That world had been saved, recovered before it was lost. It never endured evil and cruelty the same way the people in Traverse Town did; seeing straggler after straggler, screaming with survivor guilt, Worlds consumed and overtaken by Darkness. Never saw where Heroes_ (arriving at the nick of time to save others but)_ died often and Villains _(laughing crookedly_ _as they)_ won.

That life was a half-faded mosaic. With halfhearted living before and after the battle and the initial burst of victory.

He knows he could go back. There would be people waiting for him: Balamb for him to lead, fellow SeeDs looking for their Commander, Rinoa seeking her Knight. He could go back. He knows he can. Maybe he should.

Yet –

Cid tinkered in his shop down the road.

Aerith smiled and cooked the meals in the kitchen.

Yuffie squealed and raced down the street.

In this life where it's enough to have three precious people, and occasionally some new friends like Sora and Goofy, where he grumbled and muttered but Aerith would simply smile, Yuffie roll her eyes, Cid laugh hoarsely, Cloud meet his eyes in understanding, and Sora scratching his head wondering why it was considered rude. In this life where colors were bleeding back into a gray landscape, where he's trained and grown and defeated Heartless and despair, where he's thrown away _(except his precious people's Radiant-)_ Squall, where he's fought and laughed and emerged victorious as the man he made.

_Leon._

In this life where only precious few were allowed to call him by Squall, where he lost everything and built himself up from nothing, where Cid drank his tea, Aerith pandered around housekeeping, and Yuffie laughed exuberantly. Disgruntled Traverse-Squall who was waiting to return to their recovered world, to properly appreciate being Radiant-Squall. In this life where it didn't matter how much he grumbled, glared, refused to talk, scorned, lashed out, has innumerable bad days – as long as he took care of Yuffie, looked after Aerith, visits Cid.

Everyone knows – _Leon cares_.

And everyone knows –_ Leon loves them_ (Aerith, Yuffie, Cid).

And they love him back.

**. : chose : . **


End file.
